Do your part!

Fireflies are disappearing! Like many other creatures, fireflies are suffering as human development spreads, industrial pollution, and light pollution increases. Researchers believe that urban sprawl and pollution are destroying firefly habitat. Light pollution such as streetlights could be having an affect on the fireflies ability to find each other and mate.

Evidence has been difficult to gather since there are few monitoring programs. Researchers also have a hard time actually collecting data on the numbers of fireflies because the adults have a short lifespan of one to three weeks, the females remain mostly on the ground, and sometimes don't flash. The fireflies are also nocturnal and small.

 Firefly Watch, a program based at the museum of Science in Boston, has teamed up with researchers from Tufts University and Fitchburg State College to track the distribution of fireflies. Volunteers can sign up and send in the number of firefly sightings in their area. An online map is uploaded with the firefly sightings so people can check the project's process.

Attract Fireflies to your yard: 
-Fireflies are beetles not flies, so avoid using anti-beetle products on your garden.
-Most of their life is spent as larvae in the ground so using anti-grub pesticides affects them. They also feed on invertebrates, so other pesticides could hurt their food source.
-Don't mow your grass too much because they like longer grass and frequent mowing will also pack down the soil which is bad for the grubs.
-Outside lighting can affect their ability to communicate and find a mate, so keep it to a minimum.

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